Wildberry Stew
by int-xicated
Summary: He was sure she could never tell him apart from the others. Zetsu x Anko. rated T for language.


When did this happen, exactly? He wasn't sure either. For certain though he knew the day Madara decided not to kill her he had thought she was different.

He also knew that she was gonna be a threat to Project Tsuki no Me.

He just wasn't sure whether it was going to affect him or Madara first.

"Hey Zets! I need your help!" He wasn't with Black Zetsu, so that was a relief. Black Zetsu was starting to notice his behavior towards her and it wasn't that he didn't trust him, it was just that he was scared he might try to notice her and possibly like her too.

"Yes, how can I help?" He spoke, half merged on the ground. He watched as she was trying to pick a wildberry from a tall tree. Ever since she and Madara had a thing going on, Zetsu was ordered to keep an eye out on her. Konoha and Kabuto might try to capture her as hostage, to which Black Zetsu said was such a cliche thing to do, plus it was really Madara's fault for keeping her around in the first place.

But White Zetsu had taken a liking to her, and he was quite certain he wasn't the only one. In fact, White Zetsu liked-liked her. But he knew they couldn't be together, she wouldn't even be able to differentiate him and the other thousands of Zetsu's.

Plus Madara would just rip his head off.

He considered confessing once, because she was Anko, and Anko was understanding although a bit slow. She was nice and kind, and fiesty if she needed to be. The Zetsus had never been treated to as nice as she did.

So regardless of losing their lives or not, they were determined to protect and serve her even without Madara's orders.

"S-sure, Anko." He emerged from the ground, and jumped on the branch.

Anko wasn't allowed to move properly and Kabuto made sure of that. He had injected some paralyzing poison into her so she couldn't move a lot. At least, not enough to fight off the thousands of Zetsu's.

"Thanks Zets!" She grinned at him, showing her teeth and Zetsu swore he gulped.

_'Forget it Zetsu, she's not yours.'_ But oh how badly he wanted her to be. He liked her too much for his own good. And he's sure Madara knows about this. Maybe he did, but if he didn't he sure as hell did a good job of hiding it.

"No problem, Anko-chan." Anko-chan, he had gotten used to calling her that, she told him once after he saved her from some rogue ninjas that she had owed him, and to never come after her ass or she'll feed him to her snake, Kuromi.

She also told him she liked him better than the rest. And after that she proceeded and punched him hard on his chest.

"So.. hows your shoulder?" Zetsu was thrown off. Although he saved her that day, it didn't mean he wasn't badly injured, a sword had impaled his shoulder, even with 50 other Zetsu's with him. "Y-you knew it was me?"

"Of course, you saved my ass once. I don't forget people easily. Although it was kind of hard to tell which was you considering the 99, 000 other clones. If it weren't for that fist mark on your chest, I wouldn't have known." She scratched her head and grinned sheeshpishly.

Zetsu smiled back and followed her as she walked on to gather more wildberries.

"I'm alright, I heal back easily anyways."

"Well, if that's the case, oh-so-great-one, why didn't my print leave your chest?" She laughed.

"I-I wanted it to be there," he turned to her and grinned, "it's like a remembrance to me."

"'The day I saved a crazy, snake lady.' Brilliant!" She stopped, and pointed upwards, leading to a mass of wildberries. He jumped on the branch, and plucked off a bunch of them, before asking.

"What are these for?"

"I'm gonna try something new!" She said quickly, as if she wanted him to ask that. He jumped down and put them in the basket.

"Can I ask what that is?" They walked further away from the small hut. He tried to sense the other Zetsu's, so far none. _'I like this a lot.'_

"I'm gonna try cooking!"

"Cooking?"

"Cooking! Its so fucking boring back in that small house and I've got nothing better to do, no sparring, no nothing. So, I've been drawing stuff and I decided I'll try to cook! Which I'm terrible at but it won't hurt to try, Kisame can try my cooking anyway." She smirked and thought of his fish face scrunching his nose and whatsoever.

"I see." He scratched his head. _'I'd like to try your cooking too..'_

They walked some more and she rambled about how stupid it was of Madara to leave her alone on an isolated island with the remaining members of the Akatsuki, and how fucked up it was that she couldn't walk and that Kabuto should die for absorbing Orochimaru inside him.

"Did you hate him?" She turned to him, confused by the question.

"Orochimaru." Her expression changed.

"I guess you could say that."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know.. I.. well yeah I did. But in the end I missed him. He died by the hands of that little bastard," she clenched her fist. "I guess in the end I didn't hate him like I thought I did." Zetsu stared at her.

"But its okay, I think Sensei is in a good place right now, if not, he'll find a way to rule wherever he is." She flashed him a toothy grin and he smiled back at her.

"Come on, Zets! I wanna get started already!" She raised her voice, excitedly held his hand and ran back. Zetsu could feel his face go red but he didn't say anything. _'This is once in a lifetime, don't ruin things.'_

* * *

They arrived at the hut, and Anko kicked the door. Zetsu's face sweat. _'Even with the medicine she's still got so much energy.'_

"FISSSH FACEEE!" They heard a groan from a room with a blue door. Anko walked towards the kitchen and Zetsu hesitated.

"Hey, come on it's fine, you're with me." She smiled and he swore he felt something flutter within him.

He sat on a chair and talked to her as she brewed her stew or whatever the hell she was doing. Zetsu scrunched his nose at the smell and she pouted.

"It can't be that bad!" He chuckled.

"You were never the type to cook and do womanly things, Anko-chan." She stuck out her tongue at him. He stared as she continued with her stew.

She had finally finished, and rushed into Kisame's room asking him to try her stew and that if he did, he'd grow and heal faster. Kisame had fought with Gai, and after biting his own tongue off, he had escaped from this huge turtle/island. It had been weeks and he still hadn't recovered properly.

"Anko, I don't want to fall even sicker than before, I'm okay as long as you leave me alone." Kisame rolled his eyes.

"No buts! I promise this tastes good okay, so quit being a twat and just try some!"

Zetsu watched as the two of them continued bickering and fixed his eyes on Anko the whole time. He didn't know what to think. _'She is so... childish. And at the same time, so matured and strong.'_

How could one person, one _woman_, be the threat to the Akatsuki? How could she twist everything and ruin all their plans, but at the same time they loved being around her? How could she be the one to changed so many of Madara's actions and thoughts? How could she be so nice and calm when there was a war that was going to start?

How could she not notice Zetsu, when he had done so much for her? How could she act so carefree and live so happy in the arms of another man while he watched her everyday, hoping she could at least notice him and thank him for everything he did?

How could they not be together? How could she not love him back?

How could he even fall in love with her in the first place.

"Hey Zets, you feeling alright?" She suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts, eyebrows narrowed and stared in confusion.

"H-huh? I'm fine, why did you ask?" Her brows narrowed even further, but then she shrugged and left the room. She succeeded in feeding Kisame at 2 bowls, turns out the shark did like her stew.

"He said it was edible." She giggled, something he hadn't seen her done before. "You wanna try some?" Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him and Zetsu grinned.

"Sure!" He walked towards her and took the spoon, tasted the stew and Kisame was right, it was edible. He sighed in relief. As much as he admired the woman, she could not cook even if she tried.

"It's better than your previous meals." She looked at him in confusion again. She started doing the dishes

"Since when did you taste my cooking..?" _'Shit.'_ Zetsu thought. _'Probably not the best thing to say.'_

"Well..." he starting sweating. "Madara let me have some the other time."

"And it was you?" She eyed him warily. _'This guy is fishy.'_

"Y-yea, wait, I mean no! All Zetsu's can taste the same food flavours and such." He tried to smile to hide his embarrassment. What really happened was, Zetsu had come in that day, only to find Madara and Anko gone. He was about to leave when he saw dishes on the table. Out of curiousity, he took a bite off just to taste it. And he spit it back out immediately and left.

Later he found out that it was all Anko's doing, and he felt guilty for spitting it out.

"Hmmm.. alright." The look on her face didn't dissappear immediately though.

"I should get going.." Zetsu headed for the hallway. _'You idiot, you fucked things up bad!' _He made a mental note to jump off a cliff after this.

"Wait! I'll walk you back!" She walked behind him.

"There's really no nee-"

"Nope! I am, whether you like it or not. You helped me and now it's my turn."

"I insist Ank-"

"No buts!" Her tone changed and Zetsu gulped.

The two walked in silence as they headed out to the park again.

"So... where are we headed?"

"I guess we could go to... my favorite place, maybe?"

"Sure, why not!"

* * *

"This is... woah." Anko gasped. She was in front of a lake, and the water was clear and the sun was setting and there were _fucking birds_ and stuff.

"I come here a lot." He smiled at her.

"I don't blame you." She was still in awe of the sight in front of her.

"Well, I guess I'm going now." She turned to him, he was sitting on a rock and she was standing beside him.

"Mmhmm." _'Don't go.' _

"I'll see you soon, Zets!" _'Please don't go.'_

"Uh, yeah, I'll see you.." She started walking. He didn't bother looking back.

_'She left.' _He heard her footsteps getting softer.

_'She fucking left.'_ He couldn't hear them anymore.

_'And I didn't tell her anything.' _

"I'm a fucking idiot, she'll never notice me. She's childish and blunt and I don't even know why Madara likes her." He stood up.

"She's terrible at cooking and she was a failure, she was thrown away and she doesn't even have a great personality." His voice rose.

"She rushes into things and she doesn't care about the missions. She only cares about her comrades and whoever will stick with her and I don't get it I just don't fucking get it why am I so attracted to her."

"This is stupid, I should stop, she won't ever love me-"

He stopped.

"But.. I love her."

He dug his head into his hands.

_'What am I doing.'_

* * *

The sun had set and it had been an hour and she wasn't coming back. He was sure of it.

He looked at the full moon. "You look beautiful tonight.

It's a shame you're not as beautiful as her though. I bet she's got a nicer personality than you too, if you were a human." He sat, hands playing with the moss growing on the rock.

"She makes me feel so tingly inside. It's like a school crush. And she makes me feel things even I shouldn't feel. It's weird. I don't like it." He stared into space, thinking about what it'd be like if he was actually human.

"I guess it's just life. It's not ever fair, not for someone like me. There are 100, 000 more like me, all identical. I guess it's just my fate. But.. that can't stop me from loving someone."

"Zets, do I have to call a doctor?" He heard an all-too-familiar voice and turned quickly, only to find her right beside him.

"How long have you been here?"

"I came to say thanks, and when I heard you talking to yourself, I knew I couldn't pass this opportunity up." She grinned.

"Ah, I see.." _'Fuck my life.' _

"The moon sure is beautiful." She smirked.

"You've said thank you already, you can leave you know."

"I know. Are you trying to chase me away, Zetsu-chan?" She pouted.

"No, of course not!" She giggled. Somehow he found comfort in her, and they talked for a while.

"Well, I'm leaving now, so I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Alright Anko, don't tease Madara too much." She grinned.

"Bye Zetsu-chan!"

"Bye Ank-" He tensed and stopped and felt like his heart just stopped.

_'I'm going to die anytime soon, this isn't real, not at all, come on heart just work properly and brain stop alright stop this isn't funny I'm having hallucinations right now this can't be real and it can't be happeni-'_

"It was hard trying to find you, you know! If it weren't for that mark on your shoulder, I wouldn't have known it was you!" She grinned. "Consider tonight a thank you for everything you've done, okay?" She giggled and ran off.

He was dumbfounded at what just happened and tried to process it in his brain. He touched his cheek where she had kissed him and slowly he smiled.

_'She kissed me.' _He grinned at the scene and told himself that indeed she had remembered and she had noticed. She just didn't show it.

_'Madara is probably going to kill me.'_

But what's done was done. And plus, he didn't do anything to encourage her, it was just a friendly gesture.

_'But friendly gestures don't involve kisses.'_

Whatever, tonight was tonight, and tonight was done.

At least he could enjoy tonight.

* * *

**A/N : I tried making Zetsu's character as alike as I could, but I obviously failed so... tada! you have this. It's 7am and I didn't sleep the whole night so, your welcome! Oh and this is like a little side story to Distilling Horizons, which I am lazy to update, and you'll mostly get more oneshots and stuf from me so yeah... Reviews welcomed. Thanks for reading x**


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